Row, Row, Row Your Boat
by Evil-Ekat
Summary: (End of Neutral Run) Papyrus discovers just where Undyne is vacationing. Furious at his brother and himself, he leaves to go think about things. Papyrus being Papyrus, he quickly finds himself up the creek without a paddle.


**The plot bunnies attack again. Luckily, I settled for making this a one-shot instead of a multi-chapter to keep my priorities straight. I spent forever debating whether or not to have Papyrus' dialogue in all caps. In the end, I chose to because he doesn't have any enormous paragraphs of dialogue, and all caps is a pain to spell check and I probably spent more time on that than I did actual editing.**

 **Read, review, and enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Undertale.**

* * *

Rows, and rows, and _rows_ of headstones lined beside the snowy paths. They all had the same bunch of native flowers planted in front of them. Papyrus didn't like the sharp flowers. They were green and spiky. Like little blooming pine trees. Those already grew everywhere to begin with. Just brushing against them was enough to get a sharp, warning poke from the spiny petals. He had no choice but to trudge through them. They were originally planted around the grave markers, but had quickly spread across the snow. They scraped against his legs and stuck to him.

The feeling was worse than having snow in his boots, and it only served to make him feel more irritated. Papyrus was still furious because of what he had learned, and his brother's response. Papyrus kept walking, consumed with the desire to get as far away from their house as possible. Grillby's was the first place he turned to. A burst of warm air enveloped him when he opened the door, and he had to squint to see inside the dimly lit restaurant. Papyrus was reminded of just how much he did not like the greasy establishment. Dogs always tried to steal your intermediate cuneiforms when you weren't looking, and the food...

"Papyrus? Where's your brother?"

Words could not even begin to describe how furious he was right now. The door was slammed before the question was even fully out. Gnashing his teeth, Papyrus stomped loudly in the opposite direction of Grillby's. Snow crunched underfoot. It was kicked up in billowing, white clouds as he ignored their house. His brother was probably still sitting on the couch, drowning in ketchup and talking about how it was a miracle his _pet rock_ had been spared. Sans didn't even take care of the thing! Why should he care if it was living or dead?! He couldn't be trusted with any sort of responsibility! He was too lazy!

Too _lazy_ to even bother explaining why he had lied about the _"vacation"_ Undyne had taken.

Too _lazy_ to even keep up the _simple_ fib.

Sans' reaction to the discovery certainly hadn't made him feel any better.

Papyrus stumbled through snow, and the unbearable amount of green flowers. He went through the thick fog that always sat on the borders of Snowdin and Waterfall. He wanted to put as much distance as he possibly could between himself and his brother. He did not stop until he was struggling to pull his feet out of the mud, and water filled inside his boots.

The sun magic that lit most of the underground was absent here, but that did not mean the area was dark . Almost everything glowed the most ethereal blue: parts of the grass, the strange tall trees, mushrooms, and even the water. It was impossible to tell what the source of it was, but the glow illuminated the area just as well as any sun magic could hope to do. The land was hilly. Rivers dropped everywhere, forming waterfalls, before splitting back into streams again. They snaked through the area in jagged paths. Bridges had been built over many of them. They were all made of out wood that buckled precariously under one's weight. As Papyrus crossed one, he could see the water pooling in through the gaps in the boards. A most unsafe development. He would have to use his great construction skills to fix it, to prevent any more monsters from facing the same wet feet problem that he now suffered. Papyrus stepped off the bridge, and continued.

He tripped over something not a second later. Mud crept up to his elbows, and soaked into his gloves. A hiss of frustration escaped him, and he was about to yell at whomever had tripped him, but the words died in his throat. He had not tripped over another monster, but a grave. He hadn't even realized this was one of the places where the markers were planted. They could be found all over the underground now, from what he had heard, but Papyrus had no reason to leave Snowdin anymore. Asgore was dead, Mettaton's hotel had shut down when he died, and his only friend with a house in Waterfall...

Monster funerals usually consisted of spreading the loved one's dust over something significant to them. It was impossible to tell whose dust was whose when it was on the ground, floating on the surface of the river, and dancing with the wind. So, memorials were set up near the homes of those who had died. It helped some of the survivors to cope better. This grave had an echo flower planted in front of it. Papyrus could hear the whispers of a conversation coming from it.

 _"He wink until the end."_

It was a short message, but Papyrus could hear the quiet despair in the owner's voice. He wondered if the other graves in the waterfall had similar memorials from those who had visited. If Undyne's did... Papyrus pushed away the sadness that started to creep inside of him. He would have to say something really super for his friend, just as soon as he found where her marker was resting. Papyrus was especially mad that he had missed the funeral for Undyne, because he hadn't even known she was gone.

 _"Aaron..."_

Papyrus looked around, wondering if there was someone with him. There were more echo flowers in the area, surrounding the single grave. They were almost identical in size and stature. They were like a blue halo, flickering, yet still illuminating the area around him. The petals of one echo flower rustled, and the same voice of the mourner spoke, _"sweaty from flexing."_

The flower next to it then spoke its short message, _"filthy!"_

The words of the mourner travelled around the circle at random. Papyrus turned with it, trying to find where the voice would appear next. The echo flowers became a streak of blue as he whirled around, an intense colour against the backdrop of black. The voice grew more distraught with each echo flower recording, and the already soft voice became faint.

 _"He like to be wosh."_

 _"I wosh."_

 _"Human didn't like to wosh."_

 _"They make dust."_

 _"Filthy!"_

 _"I try to wosh."_

 _"Aaron..."_

 _"If the human ever comes back..."_

Papyrus bent before the final flower, wanting to hear the deadly soft message.

 _ **"THEY'RE GOING TO HAVE A BATH TIME."**_

Alarmed by the volume of the voice, he stumbled out of the circle. Papyrus left the spot behind, and hoped that no one had seen him. Stopping to see the flowers made him realize how tired he was starting to feel. He took things at a slower pace, the desire to keep far away from Sans still fresh in his mind. Papyrus did not stop to listen to anymore of the echo flowers. He deafened himself to the messages that were left. It wouldn't have mattered if he ignored them though, most of them had gone silent, with almost no one in Waterfall there to fill the newly sprouted ones. Only one's message made it past his defenses.

It had Undyne's voice.

Papyrus stopped in his tracks. It was like Undyne had grabbed him by the shoulder blade and held him there herself. Papyrus hadn't even realized it, but he had sunken to the ground again, leaning over to hear his lost friend's voice. As he pressed his hands to the grass, water pooled around them. It didn't matter, his mittens were already soaked with water and muck. Papyrus didn't know how long he sat crouched on the grass, listening to Undyne's words. He sank lower and lower to the ground. He didn't sit on the grass, where he would wind up in a puddle, but on a foot bridge.

The gap that it closed was dangerously close to one of many waterfalls in the area. From where he sat, the river took a sharp ninety degree angle right, and then down. The land to one side of him was barely a foot wide, this was where the cliff formed. One had to wonder why a bridge was built there in the first place. Papyrus was able to swing his legs over, and let them dangle over the rushing water without them touching.

He stared at his reflection. It was hard to tell, but there was a fierce undertow beneath the seemingly calm flow of water. It looked almost still, he could see himself, and the echo flower (it grew next to the bridge), clearly. Undyne's voice could barely be heard above the sound of the reeds, and the crashing of water on rocks below. Sitting near the steep fall, and hearing his friend's voice made Papyrus feel very tiny. To the human, another friend that he had lost, he must have seemed like just another monster.

 _Papyrus._

 _Forgettable._

Now that they were gone, most things made him feel invisible. Everyone was busy, mourning, remembering those who were dead. He had heard the names of monsters he had completely forgotten existed, cried out by loved ones, and brought up in every conversation. Some of them had never even gone outside, or given others the time of day, yet they were remembered like the rest. Perhaps the worst of it was that it was just happening to him. His visit (and even faster leave) to Grillby's had proved it.

 _"Where's your brother?"_

The human's killings had been sporadic.

Spare, stab, spare.

Before anyone could realize it, Undyne, Mettaton, Asgore, and countless others were gone. The rest were just left, forgotten. From the stories he had heard (and he had heard many) the human had made plenty of friends. Papyrus wondered if the human had forgotten about him too. Lost amongst a faceless group of monsters that had called themselves friends with the human. Maybe they had so many friends that they could not even recall that for all his greatness, that he existed.

Had the human simply forgotten to kill him?

Or did they realize that leaving him alive and forgotten was infinitely more cruel than death?

There was a stirring sound, coming from his right. But when Papyrus looked over, all he saw was the flower, and the wall of cattails that stretched over his head. When he looked back at the water, there was a round, smiling face next to him, where the echo flower had been. Flowey had been so quiet that he had not even noticed his friend's arrival. His eyes strayed to the overturned echo flower. Flowey sat in its place, Undyne's voice was no longer playing, and he felt a slight squeeze of despair. He would never get to hear the sound of her voice again...

"Hey Papyrus, you look a little lost."

"OH FLOWEY! IT IS GOOD TO SEE YOU," Papyrus managed to plaster a larger-than-life smile on his face for him. "BUT I AM NOT LOST. I KNOW MY WAY AROUND WATERFALL LIKE THE BACK OF MY CALCIUM-RICH INTERMEDIATE PHALANGES!"

Flowey, ever the upbeat flower, only laughed at this. It was a sweet, high-pitched sound, and it fit his adorable form just a little too well. His normally yellow petals were a strange green colour in the blue lights of Waterfall. They shook with each of his tiny laughs. Papyrus laughed along with him, even though he didn't really understand what they were laughing about. He didn't want to bring Flowey down because of his own problems.

"That's not the way I meant, silly. But-" Flowey stopped smiling now, his reflection looked at Papyrus, so he did the same. "I'm glad that you're alive Papyrus."

Papyrus felt a twinge of guilt when realized he had never even wondered if Flowey was still alive. He had been so caught up with his own problems, that he had not spared so much as a thought for Flowey. Papyrus tried to justify this, telling himself that he had no way of checking up on Flowey anyway. If anything, it made him feel worse. He made sure to grin even wider on the outside, so that way he would not frown by accident.

"ME TOO," he paused, not sure if he should add more, "YOU'RE MY ONLY FRIEND NOW, FLOWEY."

Flowey's petals drooped slightly, and he hung his head. Papyrus went back to staring at their mirror images.

"I have one friend, too. My best friend. I thought I saw them recently, but... They're gone now. They usually came and went a lot."

Papyrus was smart enough to realize who that person was. After all, he had been friends with them too, up until he heard about all of the deaths.

"OH. I SEE."

"Don't worry Papyrus, I'm still your best friend _now_."

"SO THEN... YOU WERE FRIENDS WITH THE HUMAN TOO?"

"I thought I was," his face scrunched up in disgust, "they only killed _some_ of the monsters though."

 _Only some_ was a strange way of phrasing things, but Papyrus didn't dwell on the thought. He chose to focus on river again. It was an easy action. He could keep his eyes downcast, and better mask his expression. There was a cluster of small lily pads to the side, they bobbed gently in the water. They were tethered to the bed of the river, and could not go anywhere, no matter how hard the current pulled. Bulrushes sprouted to the side opposite the cliff. They were tall, and grew closely together. They almost hid the spot completely. Flowey did always seem to show when no one else was around, but Papyrus wasn't suspicious enough of a person to think much of this.

The cattails that grew in the water made rustling sounds as they brushed against each other. Papyrus swung his legs back and forth, in time with a song that only he could hear above the thundering water. Papyrus thought of nothing other than how nice Waterfall was, it was the only way to stop himself from feeling sad about Undyne, or angry at his brother. It was a simple thought, and he could keep the grief away for as long as he wanted so long as he focused his attention elsewhere.

Papyrus didn't like the mud. It squelched loudly underfoot and ruined his bright red boots. Even now, his matching red mittens were soaked and dripping from his fall. Papyrus didn't take them off though. He would just have to have a shower when he got home. Whenever he lifted his hands off the wooden bridge, two palm-shaped handprints grew. The water leeched through the planks, spreading outwards in net-like patterns.

Papyrus didn't like the temmies that lived around the place, either. He hadn't seen any of the strange monsters so far, they were all it took to put him in a bad mood, and he wasn't in a very good one to begin with. But despite the things against it, the was calming place to be, with the endless trails of water, and host of oddities hidden in the dark. As Papyrus thought about it, the only times he ever really saw Flowey was around Waterfall, too. It must have been his home. Papyrus couldn't see him liking the snow and ice. Not like the annoying flowers that grew all over Snowdin.

"Hey Papyrus?"

"YES?"

Papyrus' voice echoed through the cavernous room, bouncing off the walls and ceiling before fading. He was loud in comparison to the soft, but happy voice Flowey replied with.

"Have you ever heard about reincarnation before?"

"CARNATION?! I THOUGHT YOU WERE A GOLDEN FLOWER!"

Had Papyrus been more observant, he might have noticed that Flowey suddenly struggled to not roll his eyes, or how his bright smile briefly twitched.

"Reincarnation," he stressed, "you know, the idea that after you die, you'll come back, reborn."

"AS A CARNATION?"

Papyrus' attention was completely focused on Flowey now. He listened, completely spellbound to what he was saying. There was something incredibly compelling about the way that Flowey spoke. One might have thought that his perpetual smile and his always chipper tone would take away from what he was saying, and make it more difficult to believe what he was saying. Yet, beneath the bright, cheerful polish that he wore, there was confidence.

Cool as a cucumber, Flowey talked as if butter wouldn't melt in his mouth and pigs could fly. He never stuttered, or faltered, unsure of what to say. His words flowed as smoothly as the water below: an unbroken stream, a flawless, memorized script that had been rehearsed thousands of times. Papyrus couldn't understand what was so mesmerizing about the way Flowey talked, but he found it reassuring. He felt that if anyone was telling the truth, it was Flowey, and so he hung on to every syllable that left his mouth.

"Maybe. You could come back as a froggit, or as a dog-"

"WHAT ABOUT A PYROPE?"

Flowey nodded encouragingly.

"-or _maaaybe_ even a human."

" _WHAAAT_? A _HUMAN_? BUT THEN, WHY DON'T THEY TRY TO HELP US ESCAPE?"

"They don't remember."

Papyrus went silent as he mulled over the explanation. Without Flowey, he never could have thought of the answer. But when it came from his friend, it was like Flowey had told him that he was a skeleton, completely obvious. That was something that he liked about Flowey: not only was he very friendly, Papyrus easily found himself drawn in by him. Flowey made him feel like it was impossible to see anything without his words. Sometimes he came to conclusions that he would have only thought of after thinking longer, he always knew exactly what to say. Papyrus leaned closer, fascinated by the idea of reincarnation, and wanting to know more about it.

"THEY. DON'T... REMEMBER?"

"No. Previous lives are all little more than a bad dream. They'll be forced to repeat the same mistakes over-" Flowey merrily swayed from side to side in a strange little dance, "-and over again."

"OVER AND OVER?"

"Oh, there's some variation, I'm sure. But for the most part, everything stays the same."

"THAT SOUNDS... REALLY TERRIBLE."

"Well if you learn from your mistakes, it's not really a problem, now is it?" Flowey asked.

Once again, Papyrus was enthralled by how smoothly Flowey was able to come to the conclusions that he did. It was amazing how they seemed to be on the same wavelength.

"YOU ARE RIGHT. IF ONLY THERE WAS A WAY TO TELL."

Flowey chuckled at this. Again, Papyrus was not certain of why they were finding things funny, but he joined in with an extra-loud, "NYEH HEH HEH!"

"Oh you'd be _surprised_ Papyrus."

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?"

An impossibly wide smile had split across his face, reaching the very edges of it. He hadn't noticed it immediately, but there were tears in Flowey's stem. It looked like someone had tried to pick his petals, there were splits, as well as chunks missing from them. His face too had scrapes, like he had been dented in places, been kicked around by someone. Papyrus wondered if the human had tried to kill him. Maybe they had remembered Flowey, but forgotten him...

"Oh if you only knew some of the things that some are capable of Papyrus. You'd be surprised."

"LIKE WHAT?"

"Hah. _Hahahah_." Flowey laughed again, but Papyrus had never heard his voice sound so different before. He wasn't certain if he liked it, but Flowey continued to speak in the same, darkening tone, "some of us could turn you to dust, with a mere _wink_ of their eye. There are some of us who could do it in just a little thought, because they want to."

"THAT'S-"

Flowey kept talking, ignoring what he was trying to say. Flowey got more excited with every gasping breath of air that he took. There was a wondrous look on his face, Papyrus could see his reflection in the flower's white teeth. The smiling excitement was catching. Papyrus found himself getting closer to Flowey, grasping every word that he said, lest it try to escape him.

"There are those amongst us that could fill you with muscles, nerves, veins. They could give you a beating heart and working organs! They could fill your bones with marrow and your veins with blood! They'd wrap you up in skin and sinew like a Christmas present," Flowey's eyes were distant as he spoke. He was rooted to the ground, but his mind was elsewhere as he fanatically talked to Papyrus. He was living through other memories, things that Papyrus could barely begin to fathom. "They could strip it from you just as quickly. They could grind the meat on your body into paste and turn your bones into dust. No, not because they killed you, but because they turned you into gelatin! They'd make hotdogs and candies out of your corpse and give you to their friends for lunch. Some of us..."

Papyrus was slightly weirded out by this, but he didn't know what he was supposed to say in response.

"Some of us," Flowey's laugh returned to its high-pitched tone. He performed the same, odd wriggling dance on the spot, nimbly bobbing back and forth like a snake about to strike. "Some of us... Someofussomeofussomeofus..."

"W-WHAT?"

"Some of us can make a simple mistake, and go back to fix it."

"LIKE REINCARNATION?"

The only warning he received before Flowey struck was the sharp gleam that returned to his eyes. Papyrus had no doubt that he had pulled him back from whatever faraway world his mind had gone to, and that Flowey did not appreciate it. He hadn't even noticed that the vines had been growing around him until they had nearly swept him off the bridge. Papyrus heard the splash, but he didn't connect it with himself immediately. Then, he realized that he was clinging to the side of the bridge, and Flowey was looking down at him. His legs were already in the water. Papyrus had known that there was a current, but he had never thought it would be this strong.

"̯͎̻͂͐ͩ̿I̥ḓͣ̔ͣ͒͗i̹̗̅͂ͮ͌͗ͥ̃o̻̗̖̝͖t͎͍̘̭̝!̭̜͙"͎͉̈́ͅ Flowey snarled.

It was such a vicious sound that Papyrus faltered. He came back to his senses, and tried to pull himself on to the bridge. But there were vines growing along the edge now, they were covered in thorns. They pierced through his mittens when he tried to reach further.

"F-FLOWEY-"

"I mean they can go back in time!" The excitement crept back into his voice. "Do whatever they please and then go back to set things to the way you were!"

His mittens were wet and so were the boards of the bridge. They were both slippery, and he knew that it would be impossible for him to hold on for very long. Papyrus started to kick against the undertow that tugged at his upper body. His boots were pulled off by the force of it.

"F-"

"But, I suppose I can get to the _point_."

The shadows covered Flowey's eyes now, but he could see his teeth becoming pointed. Thorns came down upon his left hand. Papyrus yelped in pain, and let go of the bridge. His mitten stuck with the thorns, taking what little protection he had for his hand. Papyrus desperately tried to feet for a handhold, but everywhere was covered in thorns. Already, he could feel his right hand starting to slip. Papyrus thought of the rocky fate that awaited him below. A fall from his height, only to land against solid rock easily sealed his death. He would turn to dust and be swept away by the water, never to be found by anyone.

"F-F-F-"

Why was he doing this? They were friends! But then, he had thought the same thing about the human as well... Wasn't there still room for them to change though? No, he knew that Flowey could change, he just needed to talk, to get the chance to change! They needed to talk, he needed to persuade Flowey to stop doing what he was doing, but his teeth were chattering, he could barely say the first letter of Flowey's name. His fingers were twitching. He could feel the strain, but he knew that they were starting to loosen from their positions. Before he could let go, vines wrapped around his arms, binding them together, and stopping him from being swept away.

"Some of us can even remember previous lives."

"Y-YOU-"

Had Flowey not been holding his arms, Papyrus would have let go in shock. Flowey's face had become a perfect doubt of his own, even if he could only see beneath the eyes, sneering at him.

"You don't have to do this. Everyone can be a great person if they try. We can pretend this never happened Flowey, let bybones be bybones. I won't tell anyone."

Everything he had said, no, was about to say. Suddenly, it all came together. Why the human didn't bother to listen to most of what he chose to say, why Flowey always, always seemed to know...

"That's right. The human may have taken a bit of a break, but they'll be back soon. And maybe this time, they'll finally get it right."

"P-PLEASE-"

"But hey, look on the bright side Pap!" Flowey reverted back to his friendly self, the version Papyrus now doubted even existed. "It'll all be little more than a bad dream."

He let go. The current instantly snatched him up. He was smashed against the riverbank. He tried to grab the side, but thorns now grew there too. Papyrus could hear him laughing. A twisted, horrible sound that he was certain would follow him into the next life. He would remember it, he could feel it in his bones. Then he plummeted, freefalling.

At least people would finally remember him.

It was his final thought before world turned black. It was the end of the dream.

 _ **Fin**_


End file.
